Leachman gets 45 to 80 years in prison

People in and Isabella County courtroom react Friday, July 19 2013, during the sentencing of Curtis Leachman for the second degree murder of Tyrone Stanley. Leachman received a 45- to 80-year sentence. (Sun photo by LISA YANICK-JONAITIS/@lisayj_msun)

Curtis Leachman first used a knife in an assault when he was 10 years old.

On Friday, an Isabella County judge ordered him to spend 45 to 80 years in prison for stabbing to death Tyrone Stanley outside an apartment in downtown Mt. Pleasant Nov. 24.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Mark Duthie said Leachman, 25, has a record of six juvenile assaultive convictions and four as an adult before a jury convicted him in May of second-degree murder in Stanley’s death.

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Duthie’s sentence came after emotional pleas from Stanley’s mother, Katrina Stanley, and his sister, Natasha, as well as Chief Assistant Prosecutor Robert Holmes.

Holmes said it was ironic that Leachman’s first juvenile criminal offense was assaulting someone with a knife.

A “vast majority” of Leachman’s convictions, in both probate and adult court, have been assaultive, Holmes said.

As soon as Leachman got into the adult court system, Holmes said, he began racking up convictions, including malicious destruction of property, two cases of domestic violence, retail fraud, home invasion, assault and battery, and breaking and entering.

Holmes also said Leachman “fancies himself a bad street character” who thought it was acceptable to stab Stanley, 20, during an altercation in which Stanley had a belt and might have at most bruised Leachman.

Leachman had means of escaping the altercation at 112 S. Main St. between an apartment Leachman was subletting and an apartment Stanley was visiting, Holmes said.

“Curtis Leachman took it upon himself to end Tyrone Stanley’s life,” Holmes told the judge. “What option does Mr. Stanley have?”

Defense attorney Thomas Weiss objected when Holmes described an incident in which Leachman is alleged to have gotten into a fight with a cell mate while in jail, saying his client had not been convicted.

Weiss also said Leachman was a product of his environment, having been abused as a child and having had a difficult life.

“If there is any such thing as a basic murder trial, this is a long way from it,” Weiss said.

Weiss told the judge that Leachman will be 52 when released if he serves his minimum sentence and that nothing will be gained by him languishing behind bars.

For his part, Leachman apologized for killing Stanley, saying he knows that he should never pick up a weapon, and that he will live with the guilt of killing Stanley for the rest of his life.

Katrina Stanley told Duthie that she lost her son and her younger children lost their big brother.

She said she can’t explain to Tyrone’s 7-year-old brother why his big brother is no longer around to play with him, and that Tyrone was a best friend to all who knew him.

Natasha Stanley said Tyrone is the first thing she thinks of when she wakes up and the last thing in her mind before she falls asleep.

She told Duthie that Tyrone taught her how to be strong and that he remains untouchable and irreplaceable in her heart.

Earlier in the hearing, Duthie denied a motion by Weiss for a new trial.

Weiss had asked for a new trial based on several issues, including his not being allowed to hire an independent psychologist to test Leachman, an inability to hire a contractor to testify about holes in the wall between the apartments at 112 N. Main Street, ineffective assistance of counsel and several other issues.

Duthie addressed each, explaining in detail why he denied the motion.

(Susan Field can be reached at 989-779-6075, sfield@michigannewspapers.com or follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/#!/susan.k.field.)